Rap artist Flavor Flav, also known for two popular reality shows, may feature the Sterling Heights eatery he has opened on a TV reality show.

Flav — donning his trademark clock on a chain, gold-grilled teeth and a multicolored jacket — revealed his plan Friday while sitting in the dining room of Flavor Flav’s Chicken & Ribs, which opened Dec. 21 on 15 Mile east of Van Dyke in a former Wendy’s. The restaurant was crowded during the dinner-time rush.

“I have a concept, an idea right now, to shoot television right from where you’re sitting,” he told a Macomb Daily reporter. “I’m thinking about taking this restaurant and turning it into a venue. Some reality TV right here in this restaurant. The black version of ‘Happy Days’ right in this restaurant.”

The former member of the rap group Public Enemy has become a reality TV star in shows such as “The Surreal Life” and “Flavor of Love,” where he tried to find romance.

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“No more dating shows,” he declared. “I’m kind of burnt out on that. Plus, besides, it paints a picture of you that’s not really true. A lot of people think I can’t find love but I really do have love.”

For the sit-down and take-out restaurant, Flav is partnering with a Shelby Township-based company, Forza Development, working with Gino Salvatore Harmon of Shelby Township and Sal Bitonti of Sterling Heights.

Flav is in town this weekend promoting it, appearing on two Detroit radio shows Friday. He planned to be “in and out” of the restaurant Saturday, interacting with customers. Sterling Heights Mayor Richard Notte visited.

Ted Bryant of Sterling Heights came to Flav’s on Friday to celebrate his 62nd birthday with his wife, Stephanie, and adult daughter, Staci. They didn’t know they would encounter its famous namesake, who greeted them and posed for photographs.

They liked the chicken.

“It’s the flavor,” Ted Bryant said. “We’ll be back.”

Flav, who attended culinary arts school as a young adult, said the secret to his chicken recipe is seasoning the meat, not the breading.

“I let the seasoning from the meat flavor the flour (breading),” he said.

“The boys convinced me, too, this would be a good place to have a restaurant,” he said. “I said, ‘You know boys, I have to ride with you on that one because Flavor Flav has a very good following in the state of Detroit …. state of Michigan, not state of Detroit. You can tell I’m from New York!”

Flav implemented his favorite friend chicken recipe at restaurants in Iowa and Las Vegas with little success. The Iowa eatery shut down in November after only four months because it was placed in “the wrong hands,” he said. He said the Las Vegas eatery was merged into Blondie’s within the Planet Hollywood.

He has confidence in the Sterling Heights site, noting the dense commercial and residential areas, and the nearby Chrysler auto plant on Van Dyke, and the quality of his partners, who have extensive experience in the restaurant business.

“This right here is the first real ran-right restaurant, you know what I’m sayin’, and it’s going to be very successful because of the way these boys are running the operation,” he said. “It’s totally professional. When I first came out here and seen this, I was totally blown away.”

Harmon and Bitonti are handling the recipes for the ribs and other menu items.